Portland observer., July 25, 2012, Page 3, Image 3

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A photo taken by Portland Police shows how a handgun was hidden under the front seat of a 1997
Mercedes Benz that was stopped Sunday at North Vancouver Avenue and Buffalo Street for illegally
tinted windows and failure to signal a turn. The vehicle had bullet proof armor and the driver and a
passenger were known to the officers as gang associates.
Gun Violence Explosion
Shootings alarm
residents, police
and gun control
advocates
by M indy C ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
Arts
X
V íN IMttlllNMtNI
IíD I
pages 11-15
H ealth
pages 16-17
C lassifieds
page 18
C alendar
page 19
A deadly wave of recent gang
v io le n c e , in clu d in g m u ltip le
shootings from city streets and other
public places, has alarmed residents,
police and gun control advocates.
According to Sgt. Pete Simpson,
information officer for the Portland
Police Bureau, the city has had 60
gang-related shootings so far this
year, up from 48 at the same time last
year. Since July 4, there have been
nine shootings reported to Portland
police.
Although the carnage comes as
no surprise to Simpson, who said
Portland gang and youth violence
has risen steadily since 2007, he
said preventing guns from landing
in the wrongs hands is one of the
many necessary prevention efforts
in the battle over gangs.
“We need responsible gun own­
ership, which means locking guns
up, not leaving them in cars, and
having serial numbers ready to re­
port if it gets stolen,” said Simpson.
“And that is what the majority of
gun owners do, but it is the people
who are getting the guns illegally
that are the problem.”
Simpson said there are a variety
of methods guns are attained ille­
gally, from thefts to trading drugs
for them.
Within Multnomah County, there
is a police Gang Task Force, which
was reinstated and reformed in 2011
to curb the rise in illegal weaponry.
Last year, they seized 153 hand­
guns and 102 rifles or shotguns.
The focus is to get guns out of
the hands of criminals and juveniles
who cannot legally possess them,
Simpson said.
According to Penny Okamoto,
executive director for the non-profit
Cease Fire Oregon, the number of
deaths by guns in the state has
outpaced the number of people who
die in car accidents.
Reducing gun violence is the goal
of Ceasefire Oregon, which works
with law enforcement to hold gun
turn-ins for cash events.
“We reason, educate, legislate,”
said Okamoto, who added that the
» I I I
till
number of guns within Oregon var­
ies by county. “Some counties are
25 percent of households, and oth­
ers are as high as 80 percent.”
She said Oregon law encourages,
but doesn’t require, gun registra­
tion. There is a license needed to
carry a concealed handgun, how­
ever, which applies if you are going
to keep a firearm in your car, purse,
or in places such as under your
jacket, she said.
Although there are well over
130,000 people in Oregon who have
concealed handgun licenses, she
said there is no way to know how
many regularly possess or carry a
gun.
A legal and responsible way of
going about getting a firearm is
going to a federally licensed firearm
dealer, Okamoto said, adding that
most gun shops and gun shows,
which sell more than 25 guns, are
required to obtain the commercial
license.
“People can go in there, and the
dealer is actually going to perform a
background check on who is buy­
ing a gun. They call the Oregon
State Police to see if the person is a
continued
on page 4